The late Milton Friedman was a critic of the war on drugs, and the deleterious effects it has on other countries. In 1998, Friedman described it thusly:

"Our drug policy has led to thousands of deaths and enormous loss of wealth in countries like Colombia, Peru and Mexico, and has undermined the stability of their governments. All because we cannot enforce our laws at home. If we did, there would be no market for imported drugs. There would be no Cali cartel. The foreign countries would not have to suffer the loss of sovereignty involved in letting our advisers and troops operate on their soil, search their vessels and encourage local militaries to shoot down their planes. They could run their own affairs, and we, in turn, could avoid the diversion of military forces from their proper function." It's Time to End the War on Drugs, Hoover Digest, 1998, #2

That was in 1998. Now the Colombian cartels have been replaced with Mexican cartels, but the basic analysis is the same.

So the Mexican government doesn't like our gun laws, eh? Well, just as American drug buyers feed the Mexican cartels, so Mexican demand for guns feeds that market.

And although Mexican gun laws are stricter than ours, that hasn't stopped plenty of Mexicans from getting their hands on automatic weapons, grenades and rocket launchers—all of which are utilized by drug cartels.

Mexican officials want to have their cake and eat it too. They want an open border for Mexicans to go into the U.S. whenever they want. But they don't want Mexicans in the U.S. to buy weapons and bring them back into Mexico!

If you really want open borders, you'd better be prepared for who and what comes across them, and for whatever reason.

In fact, the increasing integration of the two countries exacerbates the problems.

After all, if one country doesn't like the drug or gun laws of its neighbors, that wouldn't be a problem if each were a sovereign nation minding its own business, would it?

American citizen Allan Wall (emailhim) resides in Mexico, with a legal permit issued him by the Mexican government. Allan recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his FRONTPAGEMAG.COM articles are archived herehis "Dispatches from Iraq" are archived herehis website is here.